Thinking of rebuying Sonic Adventure DX, but for the PC.
Which version to get, the original PC release or Steam version?

As most of us know, the Steam version is a port of a XBLA/PSN port, which is a port of the original PC version, which is a port of the GCN version, which is a port of the original Dreamcast game. While I own the GCN version, I'm interested in playing the game at a higher resolution and with mod support. Since this mod fixes a lot of issues the original PC release had, I definitely would like to play the game on PC but I'm not sure which version to get. I normally just get games on Steam (<3 Steam), but I've heard the newer version is harder to mod and I'd like to use a mod that forces widescreen support which sounds easier to do on the original version (though does that version support 1920x1080 resolutions?). Any help I can get on this would be very appreciated. ^_^;;

Do not by the Steam version. It runs at 640*480with borders to force 4:3. The original PC version can be modded to run at any resolution, including widescreen, and is the only version that actually get's any mods for it.

Porygon Jam nailed it. Steam version is shit, seek out the original PC release. You cannot play the Steam version in 1920x1080 or in widescreen; the original release can be modded for both of those things.

Do not by the Steam version. It runs at 640*480with borders to force 4:3. The original PC version can be modded to run at any resolution, including widescreen, and is the only version that actually get's any mods for it.

The mod W.A.C. linked to has support for the Steam version. It doesn't seem to fix the terrible resolution and borders though so yeah, go for the original PC version. The Steam version is a port of the XBLA version, which is a shitty port of the PC version. I have no idea why SEGA went this route, but there's no changing it now. Unless they'd patch the game, but that's not going to happen.

Do not by the Steam version. It runs at 640*480with borders to force 4:3. The original PC version can be modded to run at any resolution, including widescreen, and is the only version that actually get's any mods for it.

The mod W.A.C. linked to has support for the Steam version. It doesn't seem to fix the terrible resolution and borders though so yeah, go for the original PC version. The Steam version is a port of the XBLA version, which is a shitty port of the PC version. I have no idea why SEGA went this route, but there's no changing it now. Unless they'd patch the game, but that's not going to happen.

By no mods, I mean there's no actual level geometry or character mods for it. All it has is basic layout/texture edits.

Do not by the Steam version. It runs at 640*480with borders to force 4:3. The original PC version can be modded to run at any resolution, including widescreen, and is the only version that actually get's any mods for it.

The mod W.A.C. linked to has support for the Steam version. It doesn't seem to fix the terrible resolution and borders though so yeah, go for the original PC version. The Steam version is a port of the XBLA version, which is a shitty port of the PC version. I have no idea why SEGA went this route, but there's no changing it now. Unless they'd patch the game, but that's not going to happen.

It only supports the Steam version in terms of item layouts and textures. There's nothing I can do about geometry related glitches like I can in the original PC version, because I really don't have the skill to figure out the ins and outs of the newer Steam version.

As everyone else has said, get the original version. It is by far the superior version. For example, the original PC release actually runs at the resolution you tell it to, but the Steam release just scales from 640x480. Here's an example of how horrible that looks (the Steam version): http://puu.sh/pCvr
Although that example is widescreen, the same applies to larger 4:3 resolutions, such as 1024x768. It still just scales it up from 640x480, while the original actually outputs at that resolution, and it looks great. And of course, you can modify the original to run at various widescreen resolutions, such as 720p and 1080p, and anything in between.

And if you even care about Chao, the Steam release removed several breeds.

tl;dr the only thing you get out of the Steam release is achievements, proper 360 controller support, and looping ADX music. Original version is better.

The Steam version is a port of the XBLA version, which is a shitty port of the PC version. I have no idea why SEGA went this route, but there's no changing it now.

I'm going to assume that Sega modified the PC source code when making the XBLA port and didn't bother to keep the original code. I'm going to assume that any future ports will probably be based on the Steam version instead of the XBLA one for the same reason...

...How the hell did they manage to half ass the Steam, XBLA, and PSN versions so badly? o_o Is the controller support good on the original PC version because that's an extremely important feature to me.

I know it works fine for the xbox 360 controller if you download a patch.

By "fine" you mean it's a ghetto-ass patch that just disables the game reading the right analog stick which means you no longer have the analog stick camera controls.

For what it's worth I've never been able to get the damn thing to read my controller (which admittedly isn't a standard 360 controller -- it's a Razer Onza TE -- but I have no idea why that would be a problem as it uses the standard Xbox 360 drivers), not even using XBCD.

I once had luck getting full 360 controller compatibility with XBCD drivers, but you'll have to switch drivers every time you want to play SADX and 64-bit versions of Windows don't like unsigned drivers.

So the controls on the original PC version suck even with an optional patch? That blows. There's no way to make the controls be good in that version?

The problem is with some specific controllers though, watch out. I never had issues with my PSX-wannabe controller, it worked just fine (though then again generally I'd play using the keyboard anyways...).